Castle Island

Wicked bad traffic into Boston, wicked high tide at Neponset River Bridge. Photo by Boston Harbor Beacon.

State Police, of course, closed Morrissey Boulevard early this morning, which is what you can expect from a road built roughly two inches above sea level next to a bay. And that, naturally, meant shutting the exit to Morrissey off I-93 northbound.

At 7:59 a.m., Steve Bickerton tweeted:

Neponset Circle backed up Gallivan Blvd. to Eire Pub.

Michelle added:

Neponset Ave is a parking lot. 15 mins from Coffey Street to Lil Peach.

Meanwhile, upbay at Castle Island, Steve Brady reported:

The ocean is slowly devouring the Sugar Bowl, and the water is up to the sidewalk at parts of the causeway. Couldn't even see a hint of the harbor islands from the Sugar Bowl, either. Just the swollen ocean. Very eerie.

Brian D'Amico and AlertNewEngland report a man went over the seawall at the Castle island Sugar Bowl to try to rescue his dog, then couldn't get back up over the seawall. The firefighters of Ladder 19 pulled him back over - along with the dog.

Paul Villanova took in the re-opening of Sullivan's at Castle Island today.

Sullivan's at Castle Island opens this Saturday. Maybe they'll serve French toast.

The Constitution went out into the Outer Harbor today and briefly sailed under its own power in honor of the 200th anniversary of its victory over HMS Guerriere. On its return trip to the Charlestown Navy Yard, it paused off Castle Island to shoot its cannons.

Brian D'Amico took photos. Paul Keleher was there as well.

Updated 2:15 p.m.

State Police and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office are investigating how a 60-year-old Dorchester man wound up dead in the water off Castle Island this morning.

State Police recovered the man's body this morning after a passerby noticed it in the water around 7 a.m., the DA's office says. A cause of death has yet to be established; an autopsy is pending.

The man was declared dead at the scene. Officials are withholding his name, but are asking anybody with information to contact State Police at 617-727-8817 or by calling 911 on a cell phone.

Paul Keleher notices a difference at the Castle Island food stand this season - solar panels on the roof.

Copyright Paul Keleher. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Steven reports Sullivan's at Castle Island is open today.

Sebastian Z. ventured out to Castle Island on a recent cold afternoon for this shot of the Sugar Bowl gazebo.

Copyright Sebastian Z. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Scooterdude, who normally plies the air currents around the Hancock with his sail-equipped scooter, goes over to Castle Island with his new sail, only to run into immediate opposition from park rangers:

"THERE'S NONE OF THAT HERE. YOU CAN SKATEBOARD (dubious!) on the walk or sail out there on the water, but you can't do both. We just sent two to the hospital for doing this and another one we caught and sent him away." (dubious, even more so! These types of fabrications in the comments tend to reveal a total unfamiliarity of how unique my craft and skill is. They're usually speaking out of real ignorance of what I've been doing for over five years and much more out of their own fear.)

The Coast Guard reports it's conducting search operations off Castle Island following the discovery of a windsurf sail without a rider around 8:25 p.m.

"We have launched a search for a possible missing windsurfer, but we are asking the public to call if they believe they are missing a windsurf board or have any other information which could help us with the search," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Cole, an operations unit controller at the First Coast Guard District Command Center in Boston. "We are hoping someone's board just blew away from the beach, but we are treating this as a possible search and rescue case."

The board has a clear and neon-green sail with "Super Nova II" written on it. A helicopter and ships from the North End and Hull are currently scanning the water. If the sail sounds familiar, call the Coast Guard at 617-223-8555.

Brian Davis spent some time at Castle Island yesterday.

Copyright Brian Davis. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The Dorchester Reporter alerts us that state officials are now strictly enforcing an 11 p.m. curfew at beaches from Castle Island to the mouth of the Neponset following a July 4th rampage at Castle Island that ended with car-smashing teens roaming around Savin Hill and the area around the JFK/UMass T stop.

Brian Smith photographed the USS Hawes rounding Castle Island as it steamed through Boston Harbor this morning to participate in Navy Week. There was also a boat shooting water in front of the Hawes.

Steve tweets that State Police, DCR rangers and Boston animal control have converged on Castle Island to pick up a coyote found wandering around there.

Elephant and Castle (Island, that is).

Sunset over Pleasure Bay

Not quite as dramatic as Sunday's, but the three or four of us in the Castle Island parking lot still had something pleasant to look at for a few minutes.

I was not the only crazy person walking around Castle Island today, although I was the only one not in a jacket (but at least I had the sense not to venture onto the fishing pier, onto which the occasional wave crashed). I watched boats jumping into waves and a fair number of seagulls and terns divebombing the choppy water (fish down there?). The planes heading to Logan swayed as the pilots fought the wind - and as their wings trailed streamers of mist.

Great balls of fire: The sun was actually out today! At least, for a few hours. One couple at Castle Island was able to reuse their umbrella as a parasol on the Castle Island fish pier.

Or maybe they were just getting ready again. Because even as kids scampered and adults jogged and sunbathed, menacing clouds were rolling in from the west (15 minutes after I left Castle Island, I was in Mattapan, where it looked like it was getting set to pour).

Meghan chronicles Teh Stupid on display at the edge of South Boston yesterday, including:

... the 4 shirtless men on the pier who were there for a day of fishing with 3 kids in tow. They had a cooler with them. They appeared very VERY drunk. And then we saw them drinking Goldschlager out of the bottle. EW. How drunk do you have to be to drink Goldschlager out of the bottle? When we left they were contemplating jumping off the pier. If you've never been to Castle Island, you probably won't understand that, but let me just say jumping off the pier into the very rocky edge of a very busy channel that is an entrance/exit of Boston Harbor is one of the more brainless things they could have done that day. ...

After dropping off old electronics stuff at the Bayside yesterday, the kidlet and I headed over to Castle Island for some lunch and to watch the harbor go by. We wandered around the fort and, whoa, the main gate was open and they were giving free tours (free tours on weekends through August). The history was interesting, the views from the top of the fort are wonderful and they've got all these cannons, several pointed at Logan. Most of them are plastic replicas - the War Department melted down the real ones during World War II for the metal - so Logan has nothing to worry about, which is good, since the larger cannons could shoot a ball three miles (or from the fort to Deer Island).

Our tour guide shows off the cannon bore:

The long line at Sullivan's:

Also, kids clambering all over the place:

Castle Island in the fog this morning.

Fog wraps around the Pru.

The Nothing envelopes Government Center.

Joe Dunckley took this great shot of the statue (click on it for another version and other sizes).

On a day like today, with yet more endless rain, some people might go see a movie or go to a museum or shampoo the rug or something. Naturally, I headed for rainswept, windswept Castle Island at the very tip of South Boston in the outer harbor.

At least I wasn't the only crazy person: